Illinois Woman Nabbed in Dark Web Murder-For-Hire Plot

‘Murder-for-hire’ a phrase so cruel and dangerous yet keeps on popping up all thanks to the dark web. Many people have the idea that the dark web has made illegal activities, ranging from drugs, guns, and trafficking amongst others easier on the dark web.

According to the DuPage County prosecutor’s office, an Illinois woman has been accused of using a dark web marketplace to hire a company to kill the wife of a man she was having an affair with. According to a statement from the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office the 31-year-old Tina Jones was charged with a single count of solicitation of murder for hire.

Reports suggest that the DuPage County Police opened an investigation into the case on the 12th of April after the police received a tip from a major news outlet about a woman being the subject of a murder-for-hire plot. Upon the investigations, it was revealed that Tina Jones, of Des Plaines, allegedly paid one dark web company $10,000 in bitcoin back in January to murder the wife of her mistress.

Jones on Tuesday, turned herself into authorities, according to the state’s attorney’s office and if she is able to post 10% of her bail which was set at $250,000 by Judge George Bakalis on a hearing on Wednesday morning, she will need to turn in her passport and will not be allowed any contact with the victim or her family.

The 31-year-old according to reports is a registered nurse at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood and had been involved with the victim’s husband, an anesthesiologist who completed his residency at the same medical center.

She is scheduled to appear in court on the 15th of May.

Woodridge Police Chief Brian Cunningham in a statement after the arrest stated that for the past few years, law enforcement has seen an unprecedented increase in the use of the darknet as it relates to criminal activity. “This case is a great example of how increased training, shared resources and interagency cooperation helped protect one of our residents,” he said.

Jones, however, isn’t the only one involved with a murder-for-hire plot this year. As dangerous as it may sound, it is happening often on dark web marketplaces. Stephen Allwine, a 44-year-old deacon and an elder of a church in Minnesota killed his wife, 43-year-old Amy Allwine from St. Paul, Minn, with a gunshot wound to her head and afterward staged it to look like a suicide.

Further investigations then revealed that Stephen tried to hire a hitman on a dark web marketplace to kill his wife but failed in the process. Similar to this very case, both culprits were having an affair and Stephen, trying to cover his reputation and the position he held at the church took to the dark web to hire for services to end the life of his wife. He was allegedly having an affair with at least two women.

According to court documents, Stephen, under the moniker “dogdaygod” contacted Besa Mafia to make it look like an accident. He negotiated a fee of $6,000 with the dark web marketplace which was to be paid in cryptocurrencies after they had murdered his wife. Stephen gave Besa Mafia concrete details of Amy’s schedules and whereabouts that only he had knowledge of. The dark web company, however, was a scam and therefore gave numerous excuses anytime they were questioned about why the job wasn’t done. He later took matters into his own hands after growing tired of Besa Mafia’s frustrations and shot his wife to death.

Washington County prosecutor Jamie Kreuser, after the arrest said in a statement stated that Stephen Allwine’s crime linked him to a previously unsolved FBI case. He was arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder.

“He was seeing other women but he didn’t want to divorce her because of his position in the church,” Jamie Kreuser summed up.